How to install packages with NPM

We have seen that the main command to install packages in NPM is npm install. If we run it alone, it will install the dependencies listed in the package.json file.

But we can also use npm install to add new packages to our project. Installing packages is the most common way to use NPM.

Through this command, we can install packages in two ways:

• Locally, in the project folder, or globally, throughout the system.

Local package installation

When installing a package locally, it is stored in the node_modules folder of our project, and it will only be available for that particular project.

To install a package locally, we simply navigate to the root folder of the project and run this command,

npm install package-name

The package will be automatically downloaded from the NPM registry, saved in the node_modules folder, and added to the package.json file.

Package installation example

Let’s say we are working on a Node.js project and want to use the express package, a popular library. To install it locally, we would run the following command:

npm install express

This will download the express package from the NPM registry and save it in the node_modules folder of our project.